Recording and reproducing sound



Feb. 29,` 1944.

L. NEUMANN RECORDING AND REPRODUCING SOUND Filed Aug. so, 1940 l2sheets-sheet 1 Q *vom Q E w- .f um .w www,

. mvENToR l v .fapo/a/A/euman/ 'VW 3' ATTORNEYS Feb. 29,'1944 L NEUMANNy 2,343,114

RECORDING ANDREPRODUCING SOUND I' Filed Aug. 5o, 1940 42 sheets-,sheet 2mvENToR i ,gpo/a//Vez/mann in rolls.

for a small amount of recorded sound and after- Patented Feb. 29, 41944U'NTED STATES PATENT ori-'Ica .fllm'f?.

Multiprises,v Inc., New

tion of New York York, N. Y., a corporaappimation aufm so. im. seraiNo'. 354,824

s claims.. (ci. 214-11) der is placed upon a mandrel for reproducingThis invention relates to sound recording and reproducingl and has foran object the provision of improvements in this art. y

Among the objects of the invention is that vof recording sound in asubstantially continuous manner, thus avoiding interruptions which havener, and while these proposals have been many' and varied it isbelievedthat none of them offers the advantages provided bythe presentinverition. s

One previous proposal was to` use a plurality of waxA records on aplurality of recording. ma-

chines and to shift from one to the other as the records were lled, butthe expense of duplex machines is great, the change-over mechanism islikelytobe complex, and in the end there are still heavy and bulkyrecords to deal with. There is also -a high service cost for shavingrecords.' Moreover, shaving'` destroys the recorded material.

Another proposal was to use a continuous tape This requires a greatlength of 'tape wards it is very diiilcult topick out'desired se- 3lections of materlafbecause this means running VVthe whole roll througheach time a selection is wanted.

Other lprior proposals might be mentioned;

andqwhile they all may have advantages for certain?V purposes they alsoall have disadvantages from-the, standpdint ofthe purposes or applica--vtionsof, ,ij,he present invention. According to this invention a thesound there .will be practcally no appreciable eilect from theflattening or even from the seam y wherethe cylinder is jointed; andmore impor,

tant, there will be no dlmculty in correctly following the record trackacross the seam. Indeed the inventionmakes possible the formation of animproved joint seam which further insures correct tracking.

When a permanent cylinder is not formed. the sheet material while intemporary cylindrical vform may bepunched or otherwise formed or markedadjacent the longitudinal edges to assure matching'of thecircumferential sound track convolutlons when the record again assumes aA 'I cylindrical shape for reproduction.

' the line 54-5 of Fig. 1;

tape of record material'is folded longitudinally into cylindrical form"`andl thesound track Vis made in a circumferentialspiral thereon. Therecord tape is suppoi-tedV in vfolded condition upon a mandrel whilethe* sound track is` being recorded thereon.

Thereafter the tube of material maybe cut into desired lengths andmarked with indicia for indexing. The resulting vrecorrd is ver'ylight`and Further objects and features of the inventiony will berevealed by the following description of an illustrative embodiment `oithe invention and one form 'of apparatus Aemploying the invention, whichis shown in the' accompanying ldrawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a schematic elevational view partly in section of one form ofapparatus embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the parts shown at the left of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section -taken on the line 3 3' or Fis. 1:

Fig. 441s a side viewer parts of two finished records showing the lineof severance between them:

Fig. 5 is a partial enlarged section taken on Fig. a is a view snowinghow the cylindrical -record may be flattened for mailing or filing:

lFig. His a View showing a -:nished record which has been returned toflat sheet form.

In the exemplary embodiment vof apparatus for practicing the inventionillustrated herein, the tape, .sheet o r strip of record material I isfed fom a roll ll'mounted in brackets l2 for convenient replacement. Therecord material is thin and yflexible in orderl that it may readily beformed into a cylinderl I 3 on a mandrel Il and also that it may bevfolded almost if not quite to a crease without breakage as shown in Fig.6. There are perhaps several hundred materials which for variousrequirements might be employed. As one example, gelatin tape Ahasprovedsatisfactory. It has the further advantage,of being smooth and almostfrictionless so 'as to slide easily along 'the mandrel, especially ifthe mandrel has a highly polished surface. v

The tape and mandrel have movement relative to each other longitudinallyof their length but do not have relative circumferential move' ment.Bothmay rotate together or both may be fixed. Considering simplicity ofmechanism and convenience of manipulation, it is ypreferred to.

f use the form shown herein in which the mandrel and tape supply meansare xed.

The tape is fed forward by friction driving rolls Il and II driven by ashaft I1. with suitable gearing I andconnected by a sprocket or belt i9.As many driving rolls may be used as are needed at any convenient 'pointalong or around the mandrel.

The sheet material is folded or wrapped around the mandrel by asurrounding tube 20. the entering end of the tube being suitably shapedto progressively form the sheet as it passes under a roller 2i.

In case it is desired to form the sheet into a permanent cylinder, means9 may be provided for lapplying glue or other adhesive to the seambefore it is laid up on the mandrel'.

Means are provided for forming a circumferential sound track on therecord cylinder while it is held in position securely on the mandrel.vIn' addition to the forming tube 20 other means4 such as a tube a may beprovided for thus v mandrel and the record strip. A similar grooveholding the record cylinder. The sound track forming means may comprisea vibratory stylus 22 mounted in a supporting ring 23 for revolution,around the cylinder within a supporting shell 24. The ring 23 may bedriven as by a belt 2U from the shaft 2l of a motor M. Sound may betransmitted by a portable microphone 21, an

j amplifier 2l, annular tracks 20 and contacts or brushes to therevoluble stylus 22.

The stylus normally produces an evenly spaced because of the slowuniform longitudinal feed of the record cylinder is of a spiral shape.vIt is Aor uniform circumferential sound track which v cylinder isreturned to a flat sheet form as shownv This uniform 'recording maycontinue indefinitely or it may be interrupted at predeterminedintervals to form records R. of definite length.

spaces Ri wherein the strip maybe severed by a rotaryor other cutter 3lThe sound track thenchanges from its uniform close spiral formV R2to-the long or open spiral form RI.

' The cutter may bemounted upon an annular ring -Il bearing an annulargear I'I by'which it may be revolved through a shaft 38 and gearing $9.

The mandrel maybe formed with a shoulder Ila, as shown in dotted linesin Fig. `l, to coopthis may be-done by mechanism 40 which operatescooperatively with the cutter 35. At the same time and by the samegeneral mechanism shown in Figs. 4 and 7, this may take the form ofpunched holes R4 adapted to fit upon projectingpins of the mandrel orrotating cylinder upon which the strip is placed for reproduction.

`The holes may pass through both ends of the sheet when it is overlappedas shown in Fig. 5. Even when the seams are glued to form a permanentrecord cylinder', the holes may be useful forcooperating with pins onthe mandrel of the reproducing machine to avoid slippage.

It was stated above that vthe invention permitted a special seam jointto be formed. This is shown in Fig. 5 where the-cylinder is providedwith a longitudinal groove I3b which receives one edge of the strip toallow the mating edge to form a smooth surface across the joint with thematerial on the other side. This is possible because there is norelative rotation between the in the reproducing mandrel will assistrotation and minimize slippage 'of the record.

It is thus seen that the invention provides subf stantially continuousand unlimited recording because the roll ofv record tape may be made aslarge as desired. Also the recording may be substantially continuous andunlimited because the` sound track is made transversely of the length ofthe tape (circumferentially of the formed cyl-v inder) Moreover, sincethe record track is compactly produced within a short length of tape itis made feasible to cut off short lengths for' separate identification,indexing or mailing. Heretofore, so far as is known, when continuousrecords were made on a tape the sound track ran parallel to the lengthofthe tape and hence required a great length of tape for a short record.Belt forms of record sheet have also been proposedbut these were ofdefinite length as supplied for recording, hence did not provideunlimited recording.

erate with the cutter. This cooperative interior support is necessary4with thin sheet material.

The severing operation should be performed when the record strip istravelling at slow speed. Little or no provision is then required foracccmmodating the forwardtravel of the record strip during the cuttingoperation.

It 'may be desirable to place'identifying in-` dicia on one or bothclear ends of the record and The present record is particularly usefulwhen taken off as a flat sheet for then it may be led Y or mailed likeordinary letters in a flat envelope.

Ifcopies are desired it is only necessary to place the original on areproducing machine and connect this with one or more recording machinesof the type illustrated. This may be done by either the sender orreceiver of the original record.

The record is veryinexpensive, its .cost being less than the usual costof shaving a waxl cylinder record. A sheet record containing the sameamount of record material as a common wax record may cost less than onecent; whereas the shaving cost for the wax record is from three to fivecents. The initial cost of a wax record may Aaverage fifty cents. Thevpresent sheet record can therefore be permanent because of low cost andsmall storage space required; whereas it is almost impracticable tomaintain permanent wax records of routine omce material and the like orVi in fact of anything except very important subject matter. I

- As may be seenin Fig. 7 the completed record when returned to flatform has a concentrated so`und tracg'between two parallel edges and sublsta'ntially clear spaces near theseedges.

The concentrated portion extends to anend edge and to a line spaced ashort distance from the opposite edge (which was folded underneathduring recording) The less concentrated `portion of the sound track (inthe two lines here) extends to the first said parallel edges. The entiresound track thus touches three edges and extends'to a line near'thefourth edge. The holes are in the four corners in-the clear spaces. Sucha record has inherent usefulness whether formed by the present or someother method.

'I'he overall advantages of the present invention are very pronouncedand tend to bring into larger everyday use this form of transmittingintelligence which heretofore has not reached its full usefulness. Fromrecording through reproducing it provides benefits and savings.

The record may be reproduced with present reproducing machines with onlysmall alterations. The record in its cylindrical form is 'in fact theembodiment of a single recording on a wax cylinder record. Therefore byproviding a suitable mandrel for holding it in position it may betreated like a cylindrical record during reproduction. Several i'orms ofmandrel or holding Vmechanism will insure correct movement along thesound track.

While one embodiment and certain advantages of the invention have beenparticularly described it is to be understood that the invention mayhave various' embodiments within the limits of the prior Aart and thescope of the subjoined claims.

1. Apparatus for recording sound, comprising in combination, means forproducing relative movement between a record tape and a recordlingelement in the Vdirection of the length of the tape, means for foldingthe tape longitudisound track to form a clear space of substantial size,and means for severing the record in the clear space. v

4. Apparatus for producing. sound records,

comprising in combination, means for feeding a tape ofrecord-receiving-material forward and progressively wrapping it in astraight longitudinal fold around a mandrel to form a tubular cylinder,means for forming a circumferential spiral soundtrack on the cylinderwhile it is supported on and moving along the mandrel,

means for periodically greatly increasing the speed of travel of therecord cylinder along the mandrel, and means foisevering the cylinder inthe clear space created bythe fastv feeding movement.

5. Apparatus asj set forth' in claim 4 which further comprises incombination, means for i placing identifying indicia in a clear spaceof( I the severed record. y

6. Apparatus for forming sound records,- comprising in combination, afixed mandrel,

means for feeding a tubular record blank longinally into a 'cylinder asit approaches the re- V cording element, and means for causing therecording element to form a sound track in a circumferential directionon the cylinder lthus formed.

2. Apparatus vfor producing ing relative movement between an initiallyfiat sheet of record material anda recording element in the direction ofthe length of-the sheet. means for folding the sheet longitudinally intocylindrical form as it approaches the 4recording element, and means forrecording transverse soundtracks on the shape thus formed.l

3. Apparatus for producing sound records.-

comprising in combination, means for forming a cylinderof recordmaterial of indenite length terrupting the normal formation of thespiral sound records, comprising in combination, means for produc--tudinally along the mandrel, and means having movement,clrcumferentiallyaround lsaid mandre1 for recording a circumferential spiral sound trackon said blank as it advances along theA mandrel. l

7. Apparatus for forming sound records, comprising in combination, afixed mandrel, means for supporting a roll of record tape adjacent oneend of the mandrel, means for feeding tape longitudinally to saidmandrel and wrappingit around the mandrel to form a cylinder, a soundrecording element mounted for circumferential movement around saidmandrel for recording a `transverse sound track on said cylinder, andmeans cooperating with the end of said cylinder for severing lengths'from said oylinderat intervals.

8. Apparauts for forming sound records, comprising in combination, anaxially fixed mandrel provided with a ylongitudinal seam groove, meansfor supporting a roll of record tape adjacent one end of the mandrel,means for feeding tape longitudinally to said mandrel and Wrapping itaround the mandrel to form a cylinder with the seam. thereof in thecylinder groove, a` sound recording element revoluble about saidmandrel, means at the exit end of the mandrel for severing lengths ofthe record cylinder, and means for placing indicia on the records.

' 9. Apparatus for producing sound records comprising in combination,means vfor forming a cylinder of record material of indefinite lengthfrom sheet material by folding a band longitudinally, .means forrecording a circumferential spiral sound track thereon, means forcutting the cylinder at intervals to form separate and distinct records,4means for placing track-matching indications near the longitudinaledges of the records while still inv cylindrical form,

whereby the' record may be allowed to resume' the nat sheet form andlater accurately placed on a reproducing mandrel.

LaoPoLn NEUMANN.

